Joe Strain wrote:

I am doing the same thing myself, but let's think about the anti-static
feature which uses a Ne-2 bulb a 10K resistor and IIRC a .01 capacitor

The NE-2 is a NEON tube...They don't conduct, they FIRE like a Thyratron,
they are gas discharge tubes...like a stone age Zener diode. The NE-2 (
when I used them in strobe-light power supplies, fired at 65 volts and until
it reached 65 volts, it did NOTHING.

Reading recent references I see it is listed as a 105-125 V
device...perhaps that's for optimum "brightness"...I just know it FIRES at
65 ac volts. at any rate the 10K resistor is a good order of magnitude too
low in my opinion...The reference ( a xeroxed page from a catalog listing
all the neon tubes characteristics) says the bulb needs a 200K resistor for
a 65V AC firing voltage (RF is AC) or 90V DC firing voltage.

Can we have some practical experience here from the "listeners" about
whether the resistors should be 10K or 200 K ?

Yodar



10k is a good value for the resistor.

In this application the resistor is in parallel with the bulb. Its
purpose is to bleed off any static that generates. In this case, lower
is better, but you want to keep the value well above ( 10X ) the
impedance of whatever is connected.

When there is a nearby strike, more voltage will be generated on the
antenna. When the voltage exceeds 90 volts, the lamp fires. It
discharges the antenna until the voltages drops below 65 volts. After
that, the resistor bleeds off the rest.

When using the lamp as a pilot light, the resistor is in series with the
bulb. This is done to limit current. Too much current and the bulb's
life is shortened.

As another poster mentioned, a balun tends to put everything at ground
potential anyway.

None of this is sufficient to handle a direct strike. Also a
sufficiently large nearby strike could still cause damage to a radio.

Enjoy

Craig